Semi-Finals
by Victorioushouseofnightfan
Summary: This is for the Semi-Finals round for the Pro-Bending Forum. This is Zuko's POV of what happened.


**Hey guys, so this story is for the semi-finals of the Probending Circuit for my team, the Tigerdillos. The prompts I used are: (dialogue) " That's a different way to put it", (emotion) fear, and quote) "Instead of seeing what they want you to see, you gotta open your brain to the possibilities." Enjoy!**

It's just so crazy. How did the Prince of basically the entire world end up babysitting a thirteen year old kid? Well it makes it better since he's the Avatar who's going to "change the world", but still, it's a little sad how far I have gone down. 

"This is great. Just great. We're lost in some huge, freakish jungle and we can't find Aang or Toph." 

"Calm down, Sokka. We'll find them. This isn't the first time we've been split up." He hears the female water bender say. 

"Exactly. You should know by now that nothing good ever comes whenever we're split up." Sokka pauses. "Alright. I'm going to see if I can find Appa. He shouldn't be too hard to find. You two look for Aang and Toph. according to my map, there's a beach just north of here, so meet me there if you find them." 

"Be careful. I have a feeling my sister is out there as well." I say, while Sokka runs off. 

"I hope Aang and Toph are alright." Katara says, with evident fear in her eyes. 

I walk forward and pull her into my arms. "Toph can still everything in this forest that we can't and Aang's the Avatar, the most powerful bender in the world. They'll be fine." I say, trying to reassure her with my words and my body heat( **A.N. Had too lol, I want to hug Zuko)**. 

"Oh, Zuzu. Surely you don't mean he's better than I am." I automatically push Katara behind my back while I turn to face my sister. 

"Azula!" I say as Katara fights her way next to me, tensed for a fight. 

"Oh, is that anyway to greet your sister?" She doesn't give us a chance to respond before she throws a large fireball at us. Katara and I jump out of the way, and I run off to the right while she runs to the left since the fire is now blazing on the vegetation. 

As I am running, I look back to see who is chasing me, which happens to be Ty Lee. Ok, so that means that Azula is with Katara, she's fine. 

"Why are you chasing me instead of Azula?" I scream behind my back to Ty Lee. 

"Well silly, why would I chase a girl when I can just chase a hot guy!" Ty Lee says in her usual bubbly way. 

"That's a different way to put it!" I scream back at her before cutting through a thick forest path, hopefully losing her. 

As I make my way to a clearing, I see Katara enter the opposite way. "Katara!" 

"Zuko!" She screams as she runs towards me, jumping into my arms. "I think I lost Azula, but we won't have a lot of time to talk." 

"It's ok, we just need to come up with a quick plan." 

"Ok, what should we do?" 

"Hmm, we should try to head for the beach. Aang or Toph might have found their way to there by now." 

"What about Azula and Ty Lee?" Katara says. 

"We don't have time worry about them. We need to get out of here." 

"I'm hurt, Zuko. You don't even have time for your younger sister." Azula says while stepping out of a bush with Ty Lee, immediately causing Katara and me to get into fighting stances. 

"I don't want to fight but I will defend myself if I have to." Katara says, looking ready for the fight that is destined to happen. 

"Such hostility. I didn't come here to fight." Azula says, looking hurt. 

"No, you just came here to capture Aang." Katara says. 

"On the contrary, I'm actually more interested in playing a rousing game of volleyball on the beach." 

"You can't be serious." Katara says with a shocked expression on her face. 

"Why would you want to play volleyball? What kind of game is this?" I ask, knowing how Azula loves to lie. 

"It's no game. I actually want to play volleyball." Azula says, looking sincere. 

I notice Katara's mouth start to open so I say," Alright. Fine. We'll play volleyball." 

"Zuko!" Katara screams as I pull her away privately from the girls. "How could you fall into Azula's trap like that? You already know that this won't be a simple volleyball game." 

"You said yourself that you don't want to fight her, and obviously playing volleyball with them isn't fighting. Come on Katara, instead of seeing what they want you to see, you gotta open your brain to the possibilities. This could just turn out to be a simple and fun volleyball game. Besides, if we win, we can easily battle them while they're distracted and run off." I say, trying to convince Katara as we walk back over to them. 

"Fine. We'll play volleyball." Katara says with a sour look on her face. 

At the beach, Katara and I watch as Ty Lee constructs a court using two skinny logs and some vines. We try to keep as much distance as we can away from Azula while Katara gives her a death glare. Azula then makes a ball made of some kind of soft earth. It's not a perfect sphere, but it's close enough to it for our game. 

"All done!" Ty Lee says, jumping around excitedly. 

"Good. I'll be a good sport and let Zuzu spike the ball first." Azula says before tossing the ball over the makeshift court towards me. 

I am hesitant, glancing over at Katara who just shrugs. After a minute of staring at the ball, I launch it into the air and spike it over the vine net. Ty Lee smacks the ball, sending it back over the net. 

Katara steps in and knees the ball back into the air towards Azula, who fiercely strikes the ball. She smiles wickedly as Katara gasps at the ball, when it barely misses her head and lands on the ground behind her. 

"I believe that's one point for us." Azula says, smirking. 

After an hour of playing, the sun is just barely setting. I notice the profuse sweating Katara is doing. No doubt a way to keep water around her. Or maybe volleyball is a lot of work for her. It is Ty Lee's turn to spike the ball. I roll my eyes and snicker when Ty Lee jumps up and spins to kick the ball. 

I run towards the net and hit the ball directly towards Azula on purpose. With some help from fire bending, she shoots the now blazing ball back towards me. I quickly jump out of the way and let the ball hit the ground. 

"Hey!" Katara protests, clearly upset. 

"Oops. My mistake. I got a little carried away." Azula says in a very unconvincing voice. 

I shake my head, exhausted from the rigorous volleyball we've been playing for hours. 

"It seems like they've won, Ty Lee." Azula says in a mock disappointed voice. 

"Let me get the ball." Ty Lee responds as she jumps over the net towards us but instead of grabbing the ball, she lands a few quick punches, rendering us helpless as we fall to the ground, already exhausted. 

"Ah!" Katara yells, now steaming with rage. 

"You tricked us!" I scream, disappointed in myself. 

"And are you surprised?" Azula says as she looks at a piece of paper she must have gotten from the ground. "It seems like Mai has found the Avatar all by himself. Let's go." 

"Coming Azula!" Ty Lee screams in joy as they leave us unable to move on the ground. 

"I can't believe you, Zuko!" Katara, clearly outraged, screams at me. 

"I'm sorry but remember you're the one who said you didn't want to fight her." I say, even more outraged that she's mad at me. 

"I don't want to fight the Fire Lord either. I suppose that means we should have an afternoon tea with him!" 

"Hey, at least we won!" I say as I hear Appa land near us on the beach. 

"What happened?!" Sokka yells at both of us as he hops off Appa. 

"Zuko decided it would be a good idea to play volleyball with his sister." Katara screams, with anger very evident in her voice. 

"….Did you two at least win?" 

"Ugh!"


End file.
